Moving Beyond the Pandemic: Insights from a Shared Experience.

ABSTRACT

For over two years the resilience of humanity was tested with the coronavirus outbreak. At its outset the scientific community rallied and did its very best to disseminate accumulating knowledge in real time to contain the outbreak. Sobering lessons were learned in managing such a global crisis. Critical care anesthesiologists in particular were instrumental as decision makers and their insight is reflected in a review of how we may be better prepared in the future should another virus spread with such scale and severity. Members of the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists contribute to a special article in this issue that focuses on several broad themes that emerged from managing the pandemic. These include large scale decision making in health care systems, clinical management of a new disease, resource management with conversion of operating rooms to intensive care units, and health care provider well-being. These considerations are summarized in this infographic. It is heartening to see an article and an accompanying editorial in this issue that address what we have learned from our collective experience. It is a testament to the will of the scientific community and health care providers to evolve and overcome, to move beyond discouragement and prevail.